Winter 2010 (Vol. 3 Issue 2) by Backdrop Magazine

backdrop

volume 3 issue 2 winter 2010 www.backdropmag.com

magazine

Women Who p.43 Work It

backdrop magazine

Editor-In-Chief Shane Barnes

Publisher Susannah Sachdeva

Design Director Wendy Goldfarb

Photo Editor Peter Larson

Associate Editor Annie Beecham

Web Editor Elizabeth Sheffield

Marketing Director Will Cooper

Advertising Directors Robert Doll Keith Sluss

Managing Editor Emma Frankart Associate Copy Chief Tasha Webber Associate Copy Chief Adam Wagner

Associate Photo Editor Erica McKeehen Assistant Design Director Alexander Helbach

Associate Managing Editor Niklos Salontay

Assistant Marketing Directors Allory Williams Steven Zeisler

Assistant Editors Lauren Byrwa Kim Amedro

Associate Web Editor Alec Bojalad

Contributors Aadam Soorma, Brenda Evans, Gina Edwards, Ryan Joseph, Patrick Doyle, Alex Menrisky, Kaitlin Orr Designers Jacqueline Cantu, Stephanie Linson, Matthew Ware, Brittany Thomas, Jane Mitchell, Jillian Bode, Sarah Harris, Melissa Brettell Photographers Patrick McCue, Tyler Sutherland, Joel Prince, Andrew Spear, Conor Lamb, Phil Walters, Loren Cellentani, Dan Sohner Marketing Staff Bethany Cook, Cameron Scheetz, Lauren McGrath, Amanda Vogt, Hannah Croft Copy Staff Addie VonDenBenken, Travis Boswell, Melissa Weiler, Lauren Conover Caroline Luna, Gina Mussio

letter

from the editor

As a foot-bound student, it’s difficult to keep my chin up during the Athens winter. It’s not so much the snow or the rain, but the ceaseless wind. It may not be as bad as Kent’s campus—which was designed with the Florida climate in mind and, as such, is basically a hippie wind tunnel—but it’s still pretty terrible. But this winter, my last quarter in Athens, I’ve made it my mission not to falter. And that’s why here at Backdrop we decided to craft a love letter to Athens, both its student and local aspects. I’ll admit my lust for Athens is less potent than others’, perhaps because I am a hermit by nature, and a city viewed from a cemeteryside window can be admired only so much. But it’s not tough to love the place. Athens is an anomaly. With its jagged-tooth, Americana façade and its new-age progression, the town is both self-contained and wide-reaching. The professors are award-winning, and the active townspeople are nationally known. It’s the most important liberal ship in a sea of red. Sure, the fact that a constantly rotating cast of students helps motivate the actions of Athens could make it just another typical college town, but the townsfolk’s ability to mobilize and work in tandem with the youth elevates it to something more. Athens is an ideal example of the old working with the new, masters teaching their grasshoppers. But the sad truth is that the miles outside of Ohio University’s campus often go unnoticed by students, and the problems there are just as important as quirky Athens townspeople or the Next Big Band. The reality is that Appalachia is traditionally burdened by its separation from society, a problem that is both the cause of and result of a harsh cyclical poverty. The topic is actually widely covered, and the soul of this county has on occasion been concentrated down to the very micro of the situation: the poor old folk who struggle day-to-day, some having lost loved ones and others simply fighting their way to the bank. And though these heartbreaking portraits are accurate, there are still other people who are bettering their situation. Backdrop has always thought of Athens as a place of perseverance. Our goal has, from the start, been to capture that spirit in our pages. It’s difficult to do sometimes, and we often miss our mark, but Backdrop’s founders have always seen Athens as a cultural goldmine, one deep and rich enough to provide lush subjects for students to focus on. I believe we’ve done a good job. We are still in our infancy, and as such are prone to mistakes, but Athens has been forgiving, and the community’s reaction to Backdrop has been nothing but encouraging. There’s a lot to love in this town. I’ve loved it and it’s loved me back, and I’d like to think we’ve done a lot for each other. I’m facing what thousands of others will be facing in June: a long goodbye to Athens. And, as much as I’ve told myself it’d be easy, it really ain’t. So, so long, A-town. I bid thee adieu.

Love and happiness, Shane Barnes

Adviser Mark Tatge

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Fun facts may or may not be completely, one-hundred percent fabricated.

table of contents

a-town 18

Homeblown

Local Buzz

A clear look at who’s making glass The hype on local brews

hype

Cushion Crashers

Cribs: Turbo Charged

Travelers pass hotels for free couches The GRTest ride in Athens

features

this and that

Dancing Away Debt

Attack of the Bearded Genius

Pipedreams

Broke.

An education from intimacy Oddball eccentric changes his ways The case for cannabis in Ohio Struggling to get by in Athens, Co.

H4T: Sexy Sentence Makers

Cute Contraband

sex and health

Dr. KVK

Midwives

Home Sweet Athens

There’s Something About Hairy

Spicing up language arts

Smuggling creatures into tight spots Dutch doc hits the courts There’s no need to leave Athens

entertainment

Birth — without the fluorescent lights The long and short of chest hair

ending extras

School-house Rock

Exhibit A

Monster Mashups

Women Who Work It

One Night [Band] Stand

Ruthless Rant: For Pete’s Sake

Houses are the new rock clubs Hashing it out with the Stereo Bomb National acts reminisce about party town

The average person’s left hand does 56% of the typing.

Showcasing creative minds Athens’ creative Y chromosomes A photographer’s senseless rage

backdropmag.com | 2010 | winter

this and that

H4 T

sexy

sentence makers

Hot For Teacher

These graduate teaching assistants have a way with words in and out of the classroom.

Katharine Perko,

Johannes Rankl, 24, grew up in Sal-

What do you do in your spare time? Take long walks and wander aimlessly. No, generally, I like to laugh with my friends, read and go adventuring.

When you were growing up were you as attractive as you are now? I was an ugly duckling until high school. I started to act, and it was an extraordinary thing to be a performer because I was in a business high school.

23, this tatted up Cleveland girl isn’t your average book worm. Not to mention she has a sexy, smoky voice straight out of a jazz club.

What does your ideal day entail? Well, coffee, shopping at a used book store, going to an art museum and then to the beach. And then of course wine and a pretentious movie, preferably something with subtitles. Ever been on a bad date? I dated someone whose idea of going out to eat was Applebee’s. That’s always a bad date. Ever been hit on by a student? Yes, and it’s very awkward. I just have to assert “I’m your teacher.” They’re sweet, it’s charming. Would you ever go out with a student? Oh God no! It’s hard to find freshman boys attractive.

BY BRENDA EVANS PHOTOGRAPHy BY Peter Larson

Are you single? Can I quote Bartleby, the Scrivener, my favorite Melville short story, and say “I would prefer not to” [answer that question]. What do you find sexy? Brains, definitely brains, beards and height too.

Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

zburg, Austria, playing bass guitar and living on top of the world in his flat with his best friends. He’s a hopeless romantic ,and it’s a shame he’s off the market, ladies.

What would your ideal day include? It would start with a great long breakfast and end with a great movie. In between I would just relax and get a car and drive somewhere nice. I love driving. Have you ever been hit on by any of your students? Yeah, it was weird, and she was drunk. It was flattering, but it’s just not what you do. From the very beginning, when I started as a TA, I said I wouldn’t do any of that. Are you single? No, I’m engaged. She’s back in Austria, and we’re getting married in August. I fell in love with her when I was 18. What do you find sexy? Well, in my fiancée I like the way she smells and the way she walks. You can tell if a girl is a woman by the way she walks. backdropmag.com | 2010 | winter

this and that

Pets a r apartm e being smu wary o ents in the ggled into d ar o f the n earby ea – their o rms and wn whistle blower ers constan . tly BY GINA EDWARDS

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CONOR LAMB

ats clawing on furniture and dogs barking at all hours don’t exactly facilitate a comfortable living environment for inhabitants of confined residence halls or miniscule apartments. Despite these annoyances, some students choose to break the rules and smuggle their furry friends into a dormitory or apartment in which they are forbidden. Most smuggling cases involve small domestic animals, like a hamster or cat. Other students, like Ohio University alumnus JK Wilson, share their space with more exotic pets. The 2009 graduate housed two ducks, Duck and Lucy, and a python, Clarence, in his Palmer Place apartment last year. “We kept Clarence in a cage in my roommate’s room when we didn’t have him out, and the ducks stayed in the bathtub,” JK says. He explains that he kept the two ducks for around eight weeks until they were fully grown, and then took them to a wildlife rehabilitation center. Overall, he described his experience with the animals very positively. “I only had to feed Clarence once a week, and the ducks were fairly easy,” he says. “Cleaning up after the ducks sucked though. They poop a lot— and everywhere.” The sanitation issue is just one of the many reasons that pets are prohibited, explains Judy Piercy, associate director for residential housing. “People could have allergies, and it could be a problem with sanitation, waste, and noise,” she says. The guide to residential living on OU’s Web site states, “In the past, animals found in the residence halls have received inadequate diets, inadequate exercise and excessive handling. The confines of a residence hall room are inadequate for proper pet care.” Although the rules prohibiting pets are clearly stated and

plastered on fliers throughout the dorms, residential housing does not seek to get a student housing a pet in trouble. “We give them a chance to find a place for it—usually we give them 24 hours, and then that’s the end of it,” Judy says, adding that although they find a few pets every year, the office doesn’t come across the problem very often. “There could be some who are doing a very good job of hiding and sneaking though.” Taylor Baum’s Airedale terrier, Charlie, was one of these smuggled pets. Taylor and her boyfriend bought the dog on a whim, and she kept him in her single at the end of spring quarter. “He was still a puppy when he stayed in my room so it wasn’t bad,” Taylor says, “and the cleaning staff was cool with it. They said as long as I cleaned up after him it was OK.” Taylor said that having close affiliations with members of the residence life staff also helped her keep the dog in her room until school let out, but she was still forced to sneak out the back stairs in order to get Charlie outside to go for walks without other staff members noticing. She took special care to make sure that Charlie was fed, walked and socialized often. All the stress was worth it, though—Taylor couldn’t have had a happier time in the dorm. However, Shelley Lieberman, a spokeswoman for the Athens County Humane Society, hesitates to endorse keeping pets in those kinds of situations. Her biggest concern is what would happen to the pet once an RA or landlord found out. “If you get caught, what’s going to happen to your pet?” she asks. “If they end up at a shelter you don’t know what’s going to happen to them.”

Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.

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While many college students are great pet owners, the college lifestyle is not conducive to diligently caring for a pet. “I don’t think that a lot of students realize how much responsibility it is,” Lieberman says. “You can’t just go out one night and not come home when you have a pet.” While JK and Taylor both managed to balance college responsibilities and caring for their animals, they have conflicting advice about sneaking a pet into a residence hall. “Definitely don’t have any pets in your dorm room. It’s not worth the trouble, and it’s not good for the animal,” JK advises.

Taylor says that depending on the pet owner and type of pet purchased, having an animal in a dorm room doesn’t have to be a bad situation. “I would not get a puppy. Get a fullsized dog. That way you know how their personality and habits are going to be,” she says. Although Lieberman does not condone keeping pets in “illegal” housing, she stresses that becoming educated about all facets of pet ownership is crucial when determining if you are ready to own one in general. She advises that students ask themselves if they have the money, time and long-term resources that a pet needs in order to have a good life. While safety inspections and unexpected drop-ins by resident assistants are a potential nuisance, OU students are finding ways to house their beloved pets, albeit sometimes illegally. Contraband animals have for a long time found their way into dormitories and apartments, but for now, no on is howling about it.

In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

Dr.

KVK BY TASHA WEBBER

PHOTOGRAPHY BY PHILIP WALTERS

Bobcat Kenneth Van Kempen, is not your conventional “jock.” Off court, Netherlands native and senior center, KVK, is pursuing a pre-professional biology and economics double major, aspiring to his childhood dream to ditch the jersey and fans for the prestige of a white coat and the title “doctor” demands.

iants shuffle, circling the court. Their sneakers squeal at every sudden break right. Not yet on the court, another group of lanky men leans over the musty bleachers, stripping down to the university’s version of city garb—dark green Bobcat jerseys and mesh shorts. Others enter through the corner arch, frayed Nike bags slung over their left shoulders. They’ve got a swagger. They’ve come to play basketball. The game consumes their lives. These men spend 30 hours

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or more a week shooting free throws, running wind sprints and making lay ups. But for now, except for the faint echo of basketballs bouncing off the floorboards, the arena is silent. Thousands of empty green seats are bolted to the floor. Row upon row emerges until they are stacked high enough to reach the stadium’s hollow—a rare sight for student fans used to noisy, game day crowds. The clamor is at a minimum as each player settles into his

Because KVK is now a senior, he admits individual warm-up routine, preparing for yet another grueling practice. One of them is to taking it easy during his final academic Kenneth Van Kempen, known and referred year. However, as part of the pre-professional to by most admirers as KVK. The senior biology and economics double major center—all 249 pounds and 6 feet 10 inches curriculum that he is pursuing, KVK is of him—towers in comparison to the dainty currently enrolled in the beyond-challenging journalist scribbling beside him. His stilts for hell of Biochemistry 491 with a small, legs angle uncomfortable away from his body. experimental art class on the side. An experimental art class won’t throw KVK’s His curly black hair only seems to add an academic life out of balance though; he is additional few inches. “What are your aspirations?” I quickly blurt more than familiar with adjusting his lifestyle. When he was 18, KVK uprooted his teenage out. life in Weert, Netherlands, to move across “You mean in basketball?” KVK questions. A piddling smile etched into my jaw line the Atlantic. KVK spent his first night as a as I was suddenly distracted by a howl of Bobcat alone in a dorm, he didn’t know what congratulations. The ball spilled cursively to do, where to go or how to act. The United through the hoop, gravity luring the sphere States—a strange and unfamiliar landscape. It to bounce sporadically off the burnished wasn’t until basketball season rolled around court. Nothing but net, I thought as my mind that KVK began to feel at home. Though he might have finally felt swarmed with the little high school b-ball comfortable at OU, KVK’s experience as terminology I could remember. Athletes occasionally live up to their rowdy, a collegiate basketball player demanded a lot of time on the academically uninterested road. Traveling long stereotypes. If you were ever distances for games a basketball player, a football “When I was young, was new to KVK. player, a baseball player, a soccer player—and the list I told myself I wanted In the Netherlands, his team traveled goes on—you may have been to be a doctor. ” no more than three characterized as a “jock”—a stone-cold athlete perceived Kenneth Van Kempen hours to games. as someone with little to OU Basketball Player Now, seven hours on a plane, in offer society other than your addition to the three heightened athletic prowess. to five hour drive KVK breaks the mold. While the Bobcats may not have the best time, was not uncommon and proved to be a scoring record, each athlete has their own huge transition to American college life. Four years later, he’s transitioned well and story to tell, and most of their histories are thronged with academic achievements. has become a recognizable figure on campus. According to Ohio University’s athletic Web Most know him for his skill on the court, but site 19 student-athletes have a 4.0 GPA, 85 a little known fact about KVK is that he’s also are on the Dean’s List and 236 remain on the an avid biker. Biking 25 minutes to school in Athletic Director’s honor roll, sporting a 3.0 the Netherlands was the norm. And another habit he brings from his home country is his GPA or better for the spring 2009 quarter. And KVK, although he may not be quick diet. “No one else eats cheese sandwiches for to admit it, has noble aspirations that stretch breakfast,” KVK says, commenting on the far outside the realm of sports. He is a shining typical breakfast cuisine for any Netherlands native. model of success for Ohio athletics. Despite the culture differences, according Although basketball may dominate his life and thoughts now, KVK has other ideas for to the giant’s words, “Basketball is always his future. “When I was young, I told myself I basketball,” and he’ll certainly miss the NCAA wanted to be a doctor,” KVK says. “My mom experience when he graduates. Luckily for and dad are not in that field at all. My dad KVK, ending his collegiate basketball career is a basketball coach and my mom, a dance means donning a fancy, black graduation teacher.”KVK hopes to stay in the athletic arena robe—and hopefully a white doctor’s coat— and cautiously dreams of becoming an in place of his well-worn Bobcat jersey. orthopedic surgeon.

The dot over the letter “i” is called a tittle.

this and that

{

Athens Home Sweet

Why you need to become a permanent Athenian

o hell with “after college!” Everything is grand right here in Athens, and for so many reasons. Of course there are the usual suspects—wild festivals, cheap beer and friendly ex-hippies—but there’s so much more than that. Here’s a run-down of some of the greats we all take for granted. All we ask is that you don’t wait for your mid-life crisis to move in permanently.

By Niklos Salontay, PhotoGRAPHY By Loren Cellentani

The spirit of codependence.

n a town where approximately half of the residents are college students, an economy has formed which relies heavily on satisfying the desires of students. In Athens, where the largest employer is the university itself, permanent residents depend more on student money than any other source of income. Likewise, the University and the students who attend it couldn’t stay afloat without the willing cooperation of the city. This system of codependence between the two major population groups allowed those who stay in this small city access to otherwise unthinkable facilities. It also creates the opportunity for merchants to exploit the endlessly renewing and relatively predictable student body’s desire for cheap beer, greasy comfort foods and university clothing.

The Farmer’s Market

ost notable as the easiest place in town to pick up cranberry habanero jelly, the Athens Farmer’s Market offers year-round access to just about anything capable of being grown, slaughtered or created in the Appalachian region. Recently, local and organic foods have become such a cash cow that corporations have begun using co-ops to disguise products as locally grown that are not. Keeping this in mind, the farmer’s market is that one rare occasion when hitting up the mall parking lot to purchase goods from the bed of a grisly-bearded man’s pickup truck actually increases their authenticity.

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A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.

Buffalo Chicken: Available anywhere food is sold

ot sauce and butter are all it takes to make buffalo sauce, and local merchants have discovered that chicken smothered in it can be sold in just about every possible form to hungry college students. Of course, you don’t need a school ID to appreciate chicken chopped off the bone, smothered in the spicy orange sauce and stuffed lovingly into sandwiches, pitas, burritos and calzones. A sampling of the local flavors conducted by three hungry students returned a unanimous winner: Pita Pit’s new Buffalo Chicken Pita. Is it surprising that each entrée’s score correlated almost directly to how lavishly cooks laid on the sauce? No.

Here’s how we rate them: on a 5.0 rating scale

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Pita Pit Buffalo Chicken Pita

4.8

Big Mama’s Buffalo Mama

Brenen’s Buffalo Chicken Sandwich

3.6

DP Dough

Buffer Zone

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The Courthouse Steps: The city’s stoop

he Athens County Courthouse is the spot where all of the county’s hip criminals come to face their violations head on. For those innocent civilians who’ve just taken their greasy burrito to go, need a moment to rest, or who simply are too drunk to stand, the courthouse steps are the best seats on Court Street. Posting up here provides the best view of Court Street one can get, short of finding their way onto an apartment balcony or roof. The steps high visibility and uptown location have made them a popular meeting spot for those who have sat in Athens anytime in the last 130 years.

Become an Athenian

ou can’t attend college forever. Fortunately, there is a way to stay in Athens for as long as you please. In most cities, this is known as “becoming a resident.” In Athens though, we call this rite of passage “becoming a townie”—excuse the slang. If you’re sly and blessed with high cheekbones, you should be able to squeeze five to seven years of faux college living before things catch up to you. That gives you enough time to either grow tired of $5 bottles of rum and become a respectable citizen or become a burned-out, scraggly-bearded, ex-hippie legend. The choice is yours.

Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes.

backdropmag.com | 2010 | winter

entertainment

School House

R CK

Bars and clubs are fine and all, but nothing compares to being jammed into a dingy house show, sweating side-by-side with the best music fans in Athens. BY PATRICK DOYLE, PHOTOgraphy by Andrew Spear

uch like spring festivals and Big Mama’s Burritos, house shows—gigs held in houses—are vital to Ohio University. There’s something about a fog-filled, strobe-lit roomful of dancing sweaty people that makes you feel alive. You can find it all at house shows, from hip-hop and electronic noise ensembles to singer-songwriters and local grindcore. Traditional venues simply cannot match the intimacy and intensity of house shows. You know what you’re getting yourself into as soon as the door opens: the heat hits right away, and once the band starts playing, you feel it. You really feel it. The congregation of people dancing and searching for the best vantage point for the stage allows the audience to become just as much a part of the show as the acts themselves. Hell—the majority of the time there’s no stage at all. Shows at bars and clubs can be great experiences, but they’re very different from house shows. It’s hard to get too laid-back having paid a cover, then having to purchase drinks while trying to steer through a sea of drunken idiots. And while some houses will charge a cover for shows, the majority of the time it’s a donation. These shows are not about the money. “It’s a personal event that leaves all funds, photographs and resources within the niche that comes from any band with a long term local presence,” Austin Shear, a sophomore says. You never know what to expect at a house show. “They can produce some of the most electric, uninhibited shows around— or nothing really, depending on the augurs of the day,” Alex Costello, singer of local Athens band Tribe of the Mountain, says. “You are floating in a sea of uncertainty on a raft made of dead bodies and flimsy plans.” Luckily for the audience, this forces the musicians to act on their feet and be creative. Anything ranging from the band being forced to play acoustic versions of their tunes or replacing a snare drum with a used pizza

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box are all instances that are not too unlikely at house shows. Unfortunately, with all good things, something is bound to go wrong. I think it was Plato who once coined the phrase: “If shit indeed has to go wrong, it shall happen at a house show.” While the sounds and energy produced are what allow these shows to thrive, they are also their weakness. Excessive noise is restricted in Athens County between the hours of 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and 12 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. And while most police around here will simply shut the party down, they can also issue fines of up to $150 for noise violations. If something does happen to get out of hand, it’s the house owner’s responsibility. But, just because a house exists doesn’t mean that it’s instantly ready for a house show. A lot of effort goes into strategically arranging the house so that the DJ or bands can have the space that they need—or to prevent too much damage. This can be more difficult than it sounds, as the rooms were built for living, not rocking. “The narrower the room the better,” added DJ Pat the Cat, a local DJ. “High ceilings aren’t a bad touch either.” Costello said his favorite area to perform is a big, murky basement. “You’re literally and figuratively underground,” Costello said. “There’s a good amount of space, and a stark industrial feel that lets people know ‘its all right to go balls to the wall, you wont break anything good.’” Regardless, the majority of attendees will not let their environment affect their own needs to dance about the rooms. It’s important that people in Athens continue to have house shows to provide musicians an alternative to the stale bar scene. So even though spring is around the corner, don’t be afraid to cram into a basement with some sweaty pals in the meantime to cure these winter blues

The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley’s gum.

BY ALEC BOJALAD How did you two meet? Brad Bambara: We’ve been buddies since high school. Brian Kecskemety: Grew up in Rochester, New York. How did you end up in Athens then, Brian? BK: Well, I was looking for schools with an audio production program and there weren’t any locally, so I fell in love with OU. Anything in particular you loved about it? BK: The campus, the town and the tour guide was hot. BB: [Laughs] That’s my boy! BK: OU ended up being a wonderful experience. BB: Tech school student over here is jealous of your inordinate attractive females. Brad, where did you end up going to college? BB: I go to RIT in Rochester. I do game design and development, which is like a lot of programming and math type stuff. How did the idea of The Stereo Bomb begin? BK: We’ve collaborated on projects before. I helped mix an album of Brad’s band in high school. I’ve lent him some music for video game projects he was designing. BB: But Brian and I have somewhat of a history of working on a couple different projects, and this last summer we both ended up in NYC. I’m still an undergrad, I was on an internship in Brooklyn, and Brian had finished up his undergrad stuff and was doing an internship of his own, when we started working on it. Did either of you work on mash-ups individually when you were apart? BK: No, not at all. I dabbled a bit in high school but just like I was familiar with mashing, but never really tried my hand at it. Two songs mashed together, nothing really interesting or any good, so this was like our first actual foray. When did the idea pop into your head? Like, “We’re in NYC—let’s make some mash-ups!” BK: Well I started messing around with logic one day in August.

The King of Hearts is the only king without a mustache.

emember back when popular music meant one or two guitars, a drum kit, a bass and a heartbroken singer? Not anymore. Mash-ups are replacing mainstream archetypes and gaining traction, and mash-up duo The Stereo Bomb, consisting of Brian Kecskemety and Brad Bambara, has arrived on a Golden Musical Chariot to tear apart all the pop music you’ve ever heard before, mix it around and build it back up again, making it fresher and meaner than it ever was before. Backdrop chatted with OU grad Kecskemety and his partner-in-mash Bambara about everything Stereo Bomb.

I had this one sample: the a capella from Sublime’s “What I Got,” which I got from Eddie Ashworth, an audio production professor at OU who was an engineer on the Sublime album back in the day. So I had this sample that was semi-rare, and I figured I should try to do something cool with it. I mashed it with M.I.A, and did a few more things you hear at the beginning of the album, and showed maybe like three minutes worth of stuff to Brad that night. How many songs do each of you have in your libraries (not counting samples)? BB: Right now my iTunes has around 3500 songs BK: Just shy of 11k. What are some songs that you’ve dug recently? BB: It’s always a weird mix of things for me. I’ve gotten into some heavier metal stuff lately, but also just into pop. BK: Yeah as far as pop goes, the newer GaGa stuff is really good BB: I recently checked out the Lady GaGa album, Fame Monster, which I probably wouldn’t have listened through. In a perfect world, what do you want The Stereo Bomb to be? What do you want out of this and how do you want it to be recognized? BB: I think it would be great to have it be a well-known thing for sure. I think a lot of people recognize that there’s potential in it, judging by Now Hear This. BK: I’m in NYC right now studying music business at NYU so I’d like this to help me connect with other music business professionals and just to make music that people really want to hear. BB: Yeah, I think that the mash-up thing is definitely blowing up right now. It’s a new thing in pop culture that people haven’t really seen before. BK: Like, even “Glee” had two episodes dedicated to mash-ups… and, yes, I watch “Glee.” BB: We’re kind of riding that wave.

backdropmag.com | 2010 | winter

entertainment

One

Night {Band} Stand Local bands all love Athens. Well, they’re used to it. The national acts that come through have a different take on the place, though. Here are a few.

BY ANNIE BEECHAM

PHOTOGRAPHY BY PETE LARSON

thens is a music town. Every night of the week artists and bands take the stages—some real and some more makeshift—at bars, coffee shops, street corners, houses and Ohio University auditoriums. While local bands feed a demand for live shows and use Athens as a jumping off point, bands from bigger cities with broader followings use a tour stop in Athens to bolster their popularity with the student population and to make a little cash on the way to the next big gig. Four bands— Via Audio and Josh Mease, both from New York City, The Deep Vibration out of Nashville and The Avett Brothers from Durham, North Carolina—have all at some point rocked out for an Athens crowd. To loyal fans of these acts, a tour stop in the our small, funky Ohio college town is a special event. And, as four musicians from each act explain, a tour stop in Athens is a breath of fresh air for them, too.

There’s No Place Like Athens

Though singer-songwriter Josh Mease has only been to Athens once, in November 2009, but he quickly caught on to what students and locals already know: Athens is unique. “It’s a small town where there’s still enough going on culturally to keep things from getting stale,” he says. “There’s also an energy about Athens that comes from so many young people living there.” David Lizmi, bassist for Brooklyn-based indie pop band Via

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Audio, is also in-tune with that special something about the college town. “[Athens] is filled with very good-hearted and warm people,” he says. Lead singer for The Deep Vibration, Matt Campbell, remembers Athens fondly as a small college town when his band played here in Spring 2009, but for the Nashville native, one pastime of the college crowd struck him as odd, “I remember it being really strange seeing how many people were playing cornhole,” he says. “Cornhole season was certainly in full-bloom.” Joseph Kwon, bassist for The Avett Brothers, had only been as close as Stuart’s Opera House in Nelsonville—where he’s played several times with The Avetts—to Athens before their sold-out concert at Memorial Auditorium on February 24. He’s experienced warm welcomes from audiences during his visits to southeast Ohio. “It’s like we’re playing to our family, and no wrong can be done. Which is good because we do play a lot of wrongs.”

How Athens’ Music Scene Compares

Athens may be small, and it’s never been confused with Nashville or New York City, but for its size, the city attracts a wide array of musicians. “It’s pretty impressive that there is such a fertile music scene in a small college town in the middle of Ohio,” Mease, who has played in every major city across the Eastern

Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to slow a film down so you could see his moves.

Seaboard, says. Via Audio can compare the town to nearly every major city in the U.S. “Athens does a decent job.” Lizmi says. “I know Athens is a fan of John Vanderslice, so that’s positive points in my book.” And though it’s easier to name cities The Avett Brothers haven’t yet toured in, Kwon remains impressed with Athens. “Judging by my limited experience with small town music scenes, I’d say it stands up near the top,” Kwon says. “I live near Carboro, North Carolina, which is also a small town and has some great music going through it. I get the same kind of feel from Athens.”

Where They Play

Mease performed at Donkey Coffee when last in Athens. During his next visit, he would like to play Casa, The Union or at a house show, for which he’s heard Athens is notorious. “I’ve played some great house concerts in California that were lots of fun,” Mease says. The Deep Vibration went the house-show route, playing at Bruce Manor, a house venue where local band Manor Animals now dwells, last Spring, “It was good, it was fun. It was just a house party,” Campbell says. The Nashville band has played in many major cities including New York City, Philadelphia and Atlanta.

Where They Eat & Drink

students. “I went to a party after we played, and people were throwing beer bottles at each other. I didn’t really enjoy that.” Lizmi, too, found some of Athens’ pranksters to be a turn off, after Via Audio’s van was tagged with graffiti. Worse, though, was when Via Audio’s lead singer found herself in a bit of a cat fight. “Our tiny girl lead singer got in a brawl with a belligerent little freshman girl that had her high heels in her hands,” Lizmi says. “There was spit. That’s all I’m saying.”

WHEN THEY’LL BE BACK VIA AUDIO: A show at The Union on April 1st with Athens locals Manor Animals and Grade School. JOSH MEASE: Mease has no solid plans to return as of yet, but “would love to make it back on a trip out to the Midwest in 2010.” THE DEEP VIBRATIONS: No plans yet, but when they are finished with their full-length record, an Athens stop will be on the radar.

THE AVETT BROTHERS: Played February 24, 2010 at Memorial Auditorium, hopefully back next year.

Casa tops the list for many out-of-towners as the restaurant to make a beeline. “Casa Nueva is pretty delightful,” Lizmi says. “Casa has great food and a great vibe,” Campbell, too, got a taste of Casa during his brief, 24-hour stay in Athens, but wasn’t as impressed as some. And when it comes to drinking, the activity that Athens can hold it’s own ground when compared to other cities, Via Audio always ends up at The Union, though, “The smell is stronger than wet duck feet, “ Lizmi says.

What they do offstage

When the show’s over, some bands are exhausted, but others jump at the chance to partake in cultural immersion. Via Audio dabbles in a little bit of everything after every set ends. “We play frisbee, climb the mountains, take press photos, make dumb fart jokes, play silly Green Day covers and drink Natty Ice,” Lizmi says. When they’ve gotten enough recreational time, the members of Via Audio crash at friends’ houses. Members of The Deep Vibration literally immersed themselves in Athens—“We went swimming in the river, that was fun.” Campbell says. And they didn’t have a problem finding a place to sleep—drummer Luke Herbert found the floor of Bruce Manor to be adequate when bedtime rolled around, while Campbell and guitarist Jeremy Fetzer opted to stay with friends in the dorms.

What they don’t like

Athens does have its flaws, however hard to accept. Out-oftown bands have had unfortunate run-ins with the less impressive population of the university. When it comes to bad experiences, Mease points out the “drunk, obnoxious” college

A duck’s quack doesn’t echo, and no one knows why.

backdropmag.com | 2010 | winter

a-town

BLOWN

HOME

BY EMMA FRRANKART

PHOTOgraphy BY joel prince

We all know Athens County is a haven for local artists—but it’s especially suited for making glass, and some of the area’s greatest artists have come here to do just that.

hen in its functional mode, it is taken for granted daily. We use it constantly to help quench our thirst, to protect us from the elements, to improve our sight. This mystery substance has the potential to express or inspire, and even to change lives. A mixture of quartz sand, lime, borax, soda ash and other chemicals combine under intense heat to create a fragile and beautiful substance: glass. Glass artists have long been drawn to southeast Ohio, and the area surrounding Ohio University is no exception. A relative abundance of inexpensive land and the presence of oil and natural gas wells draw artists to the area—two highly useful resources to artists whose work requires a constant supply of fuel for furnaces. Nick Del Matto, an artist from Logan, Ohio, estimates that he’s saved about $1,000 a month for over 30 years, thanks to the wells present on his land. “I would not have enjoyed [making glass] nearly as much,” Del Matto says, “if I would’ve had to have produced $1,000 worth of stuff just to keep the furnace hot.” For many local glass artists, the art is not about making money, but about doing something they love. Producing and selling enough product to turn a large profit is difficult for a single person, so most local glass artists chose to supplement their income by teaching, giving lessons or working a day job. “Other guys end up just being managers of their operation without ever actually touching the material,” Del Matto says, “So I made a conscious decision early on that anything that went out of this shop was gonna go through my hands.” As a result, each piece of art that bares

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“When that glass is on the end of the blowpipe, it’s a meditation in the way that it doesn’t allow you to think about anything else,”

Mike Lombard Glass Artist

his signature is a one-of-a-kind, handmade creation. That’s not to say that glass artists don’t want help from time to time. Athens artist and former OU glassblowing instructor Mark Lombard likes to work in groups of anywhere from two to

five people when making particularly detailed pieces. “If you have someone there to assist you, it greatly expands your abilities to do something even more intricate,” Lombard says. “It’s sort of like a dance, where you’re choreographing the whole thing.” He describes glassblowing as a kind of meditation, which only gets more concentrated when there are more people involved. “There’s an intensity level that engages you physically and also engages your attention,” he says, comparing the focus needed for glassmaking to that needed to control a car traveling at 100 miles per hour. “When that glass is on the end of the blowpipe, I can’t be thinking about whether I haven’t paid some bill or whether I have some upcoming project,” Lombard says. “It’s a meditation in the way that it doesn’t allow you to think

Early Romans used to use porcupine quills as toothpicks.

about anything else.” Logan artist Marco Jerman agrees, saying that glassmaking “is very relaxing…if you know how to do it.” But for Marco and her late husband, Tim, lampworking (making glass art with a table-top torch, rather than a large furnace) became more than just a meditation—it became a life inspiration. After suffering a back injury that left him unable to move much more than a few fingers, Tim refused to give up his love for glass. Marco built a wheel-chair accessible studio and helped him reinvest in life. “Once you fall in love with glass, you’re always in love with glass,” Marco explains. Tim passed away in 2004, but his memory lives on through his pieces, two of which are on display in the Luce Foundation Center for American Art in the Smithsonian. All three artists came into glass accidentally—Lombard and Del Matto through whimsically signing up for college glassblowing classes and Marco through meeting Tim—and all three admit that they fell in love quickly. Unfortunately for OU students, the

opportunities to experience glassmaking are limited. While Ohio University did offer a glass program in the past; Lombard taught classes and introduced students to the art of glassmaking. The program was cut, along with the fiber arts, jewelry and woodworking programs in the late ’80s, before most OU students were born. Lombard speculates that the cuts were made not out of budgetary concerns, but in an effort to emphasize the more “traditional” fine arts programs like painting or drawing. Hocking College, however, still offers a glass course, taught by Del Matto. Students travel to Logan twice a week and get hands-on experience in his personal workshop. If you absolutely have to try your hand at glass, Marco offers bead-making classes at her Logan gallery, Liquid Light. If you’d rather just sit back and appreciate the beauty of glass art creation, Lombard will soon be offering demonstrations for viewers at the studio he shares with his partner, Tom Scott. “Glass is as much a visual art form, like painting, as it is an athletic event,” Lombard says. “It has the potential to be a sort of performance art.”

Find Nick Del Matto’s work at Court Street Collection (next to Stephen’s) or at www.delmattoglass.com. Find Marco German’s jewelry at the Import House; her other work can be found at www.liquidlightcenter.com/ glass.html and at the Liquid Light Gallery in Logan. Currently, Mark Lombard is working on building up inventory, but will advertise in local media when his partner, Tom Scott, opens his studio to the public as a gallery and glassblowing demonstration area.

a-town

DONKEY COFFEE

LOCALBUZZ Whats brewing in Athens coffee shops

BY ANNIE BEECHAM

photography By Joel Prince

willing down a cup of joe is a vital element of the morning routines of many. While coffee brings sleep-deprived humans to life, the sale of the coffee bean crop is the living breath of many impoverished South American economies—but when it’s not fairly traded, its sale can have crushing effects on farmers. Athens has no shortage of cafes, and the town’s spread of coffee shops ensures that there’s always a caffeine fix within walking distance. We rounded up seven coffee shops and sized them up in terms of price, ambiance and bean source. And, as seasoned café dwellers will tell you, different coffee shops are suited for different activities. From late-night homework, meetings with professors or going on a first date, choosing the right cafe setting is key.

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17 ½ W. Washington St. Price: $1.85/$2.10 Ambiance: Donkey’s vibe is iconic of all that is Athens. Origin of Coffee: Dean’s Beans: a 100 percent organic, fair trade and kosher coffee wholesaler. The Crowd: The cool, the hip and the environmentally conscious hang here. When to go: The dim lighting, nooks and intimate atmosphere make Donkey an ideal locale for a date.

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38 S. Court St. Price: $1.75/$2.00/$2.25 Ambiance: Both a coffee shop and full deli, it’s less eclectic than other Athens nooks, but offers the most variety in terms of café and deli fare. Origin of Coffee: Brenen’s gets their beans from Caruso’s, a Cleveland roaster. They offer some fair-trade brews, like the Costa-Rican. The Crowd: A year-round crowd of Court Street workers, professors and students. When to go: You’re parents are in town, and you need a neutral place to take them to lunch.

BREW DU SOLEIL ESPRESSO CAFE DRIVE-THRU The Market on State 1002 E. State St. Price: $1.50/1.75/$1.95 Ambiance: The expansive parking lot of The Market on State doesn’t lend to the standard coffee shop vibe, yet this coffee-selling shack is a charmingly compact beverage provider. Origin of Coffee: They use Equal Exchange products, a popular fair-trade coffee distributor out of Massachusetts. The Crowd: The drive-thru attracts parents of smaller children, faculty and commuters. When to go: Arm yourself with a strong cup-of-joe to accompany your grocery list before facing the weekend Wal-Mart crowds.

Price of coffee: $1.95/$2.39 Ambiance: With large windows and a nice view of the Hocking, the energyefficient building is both relaxing and refreshing. It shares space with the Athens Real Estate Company, but with two stories, there’s no shortage of seating. Origin of Coffee: The shop serves Equal Exchange coffee, a fair-trade roaster. The Crowd: Mostly locals, but students are beginning to discover the relatively new shop. When to go: You’ve got a lot of studying to do and need to distance yourself from Court Street distractions.

PERK’S COFFEE HOUSE 49 S. Court St. Price: $1.00/$1.00/$1.85 Ambiance: It’s not as cozy since they remodeled to make room to include Whit’s Frozen Custard, but large windows and the corner location make it prime for people watching. Origin of Coffee: Perk’s coffee is certified organic and fair-trade. The Crowd: Students, faculty, locals out-of-towners. When to go: Before class, between classes, after class and when you want the cheapest cup of coffee in Athens— and/or frozen custard.

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67 S. Court St. Price of coffee: $1.65/$1.85/$1.95 Ambiance: Feels like Starbucks, but with better coffee. Origin of Coffee: They serve Crimson Cup roasts, an independent provider out of Bexley, Ohio. While the house coffee is not fair-trade, they have a fairtrade roast for purchase by the bag. The Crowd: A mix of students and faculty. When to go: Your Accounting 101 professor gives you a five-minute break. Sprint out of Copeland for a pick-me-up.

THE FRONT ROOM Baker Student Center Price: $1.65/$1.85/$1.95 Ambiance: Maintains a bit of the sterile feel of the rest of Baker Center, but the coffee shop is always a hotbed of activity. Origin of Coffee: Love it or hate it, they brew only Starbucks. Starbucks is the largest purchaser of fair trade coffee in the world, pledging to sell 100 percent fairly traded beans by 2015. The Crowd: Mostly students and some faculty. When to go: You need a central location for a meeting with a professor or classmates, you’re killing time between classes or you want to run into someone you know.

backdropmag.com | 2010 | winter

hype

cushion

c ra s hers “Couch surfers” are saving dough when traveling by swapping pricey hotels and inhospitable hostles for the allure of a stranger’s couch.

BY GINA EDWARDS, PHOTOGRAPHY BY Dan Sohner

magine letting complete strangers into your home to crash couch surfing from both a traveler and host perspective. in your living room. Weary and weathered with an indus- Ohio University senior Carrie Rumancik couch surfed in trial-sized backpack on their shoulders, they stop at your France after a study abroad session. “I was supposed to backpack around Europe, and I didn’t re-budget until I was in place while traveling. Would your couch be available? It sounds like a typical ethical conundrum—maybe straight France, and I couldn’t afford to do anything that I originally out of a 101 text—but it’s the premise of a global phenom- planned,” Carrie says. Instead of cutting her trip short or going homeless until her enon called Couch Surfing. People from all over the world can log onto the couch surfing Web site, www. couchsurfing.com, create a profile, and become a part of a network spanning 234 countries and over 1.6 million people and counting. The site allows users to register as hosts—those who welcome travelers into their homes—or as travelers looking for a cheap way to travel the globe. The organization was created after cofounder Casey Fenton, then a 22-year-old traveler, e-mailed over 1,500 local students in Iceland asking for a place to stay. He received over 50 offers for accommodation, generosity which sparked the idea for a couch surfing network. Many Ohio University Dan Krauss relaxes on his host’s bed in Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco. students have experienced

winter | 2010 | backdrop

There are six million parts in the Boeing 747-400.

flight home, Carrie worked on a donkey farm and couchsaid. “I was still nervous the whole time, though.” surfed. She described the encounter with her first host, HéSome travelers, like Emily Glauser, a 2009 OU alum, have lène, as an amazing experience. “She gave up her bed, and even gone one step further and become hosts themselves. “I that’s not a usual couch surfing thing,” Carrie said, adding paid a $25 donation fee to get something called a ‘verified that Hélène cooked delicious French cuisine, took her swimmember status’ that proves that I’m not just some crazy perming in the Mediterranean and helped her resolve a mix-up son,” Emily says. with her train tickets. While hosting surfers OU senior Ryan Boone, gives you the opportunity You have to have an open mind who has couch surfed in to showcase your town, it’s Colorado and West Virginia, and be accepting of everyone, you not for everyone. “You have applauds the program for its to have an open mind and economic practicality and have to be able to tell who you can be accepting of everyone,” social benefits. “Everyone trust and who you can’t.” Ryan says. “You have to be Ryan Boone able to tell who you can trust loves traveling, but the thing that holds them back is the Ohio University senior and who you can’t.” expense,” Ryan says, “It’s As a non-profit organizagreat when you have this tion, couch surfing is comopportunity to go and stay pletely free. Most surfers, somewhere for free.” however, give back to the hosts that have warmly opened No system is without its flaws, and OU travelers mentheir doors—and their pull-out couches. “People don’t really tioned that couch surfing can present a few peculiar probexpect anything out of you, but usually I get them a six pack lems. “You never really get a lot of sleep,” Dan Krauss, a of beer or something,” Ryan says. senior who recently couch surfed through California, says. Couch surfing relationships don’t have to end once the sofa “Some couches are really comfortable and some of them are is folded up. Carrie keeps in touch with Hélène through ereally uncomfortable,” Dan says, “And you better hope the mails, and Ryan knows that he is welcomed back at his West floor you’re sleeping on has carpeting.” Virginian host’s home whenever he needs. “I don’t plan on Being a female traveler, Carrie took safety precautions staying at a hotel ever again,” Ryan says. “There’s no need to when booking her surfing locations. “I made sure the hosts when you have people like this.” had some sort of reputation or voucher or something,” she

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CHARGED A look at the fastest car in Southeast Ohio

BY AADAM SOORMA

“People always ask me what I’ve modified. The answer is simple— nothing. I love the car the way it is.”

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PHOTography by patrick Mccue

e know you’ve seen it parked outside Copeland, and you’ve probably taken a double take as it has rolled down Mill hill. We know your jaw dropped as it revved to 7000 rpm and seamlessly dropped into first gear on Court Street. And we know you’re wondering how the hell this $94,000 Nissan GT-R found its way to Athens. Meet the owner of what is arguably the fastest car in southeast Ohio: Cayman Guo—a sophomore economics major from northeast China with an unquenchable thirst for speed. The self-proclaimed sports car expert traveled to Columbus last August, returning to Athens with the 2010 Nissan GT-R. The metallic, near-black, two-door coupe lets out a deep growl as Cayman starts the 485 horsepower, twin turbocharged 3.8L V6 engine. The car has won numerous awards, including Automobile Magazine’s 2009 Automobile of the Year. Naturally, Cayman has a few reservations about letting others behind the wheel. “I’m well-read on cars and very careful about who I let drive my car. As in, usually just me.” A car rarely found on the metropolitan streets of most large cities, Cayman and his friend Zhuoming “Jet” Si share an interesting

The typical lead pencil can draw a line that is thirty-five miles long.

story—each owning a GT-R here in quaint, student-filled Athens, Ohio. “I visited the United States in 2006 and looked at colleges in New Jersey, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York,” Cayman says. “My father found Athens, and it seemed like a nice, quiet, safe college town. So I enrolled at OU in the fall of 2008.” Cayman takes extra caution when driving his car around Athens. After realizing the unevenness and unpredictability of driving on brick roads, he decided not to lower the suspension—leaving it at its stock configuration. Cayman carries full coverage insurance, but has had problems with people vandalizing his vehicle. “Fall quarter someone drove a nail into my rear tire, and recently someone keyed the hood pretty bad.” Still, the high-octane fuel pumps through his veins every time he opens up the throttle on the highway. Cayman claims to have run his super car up to a mind-numbing 178 mph on US 33, just past the Lancaster bypass. “The most important thing in life is doing what you enjoy,” Cayman says. Well, enjoyment comes with a capital E when looking into the cabin of this exclusive Japanese sports car. The leather upholstered, heated front seats feature synthetic suede inserts for a consistent, smooth ride. Cayman controls the 11-speaker, dual subwoofer Bose audio system with a 40 GB computer, conveniently located above the center console and on the same plane as the instrument panel. And since the GT-R is manufactured with Nissan’s Intelligent Key System, the car starts using Push Button Ignition, which is mounted between the shift lever and parking brake.

The high-downforce, aerodynamic body sits on 20-inch lightweight alloy wheels with low profile tires and gives the vehicle an intimidating persona. “I love the exterior look of my car,” Cayman says. “People always ask me what I’ve modified. The answer is simple—nothing. I love the car the way it is.” The GT-R’s signature high-intensity xenon headlights are coupled with round, ‘afterburner’ tail lights—a Nissan tradition for over 37 years. Motorists gawk as Cayman weaves through traffic like liquid. With only one speeding offense on his record, the young wheelman exhibits control while operating his extraordinary ride.

Pucks hit by hockey sticks have reached speeds of up to 150 miles per hour.

backdropmag.com | 2010 | winter

features

DANCING AWAY DEBT

Some girls flip burgers for cash, others work retail. And still others take the riskier route, taking their clothes off for cash to pay for school. By Alex Menrisky, Photography By Erica McKeehen

ersephone had a job, but its hours were late, its even in the generally open-minded climate of the university. “I consider myself pretty intelligent, pretty articulate,” conditions were rough and its pay was too low. She decided that working full-time in the fast food Persephone says, “but when people hear that I’m a dancer, industry while studying at Ohio University was not going they automatically assume that I’m a whore.” Other women in similar situations have also faced to cut it. She took to reading the classifieds in addition to stigma, such as Caroline, another dancer with a moneyher textbooks. An offer of a potential $2,000 a week caught her eye. She chose to dance for cash, shedding her clothes making secret. “I don’t tell a lot of people that I did do this,” Caroline while slashing at her academic debt. Persephone—she requested her stage name be used to says, “because if you say ‘exotic dancer,’ everyone thinks protect her privacy—isn’t the only young woman who has you’re this horrible person, and that’s not it at all. I’m just realized that when it comes to footing the cost of education comfortable in my own skin, I guess.” An aspiring dancer’s foray into the profession isn’t without in a stretched financial situation, becoming a professional hurdles. The first night on the job she may find exotic dancer is a fast way to earn money. herself in the bathroom, crying and without Persephone’s full course load put pressure on money—the other girls have all taken it. She her ability to work full-time, and, before she feels like a little girl on the playground who’s knew it, she found herself on stage for the first had her lunch money stolen by bullies. time during her freshman year, making enough “I consider The club doesn’t pay the girls, and they don’t money at the club to support herself at school. Pretty soon she was bringing home hard cash myself pretty make a wage. They are private contractors, paying the club to work there. Anything that and replacing the odor of fast-food grease with intelligent, the clients hand dancers is fair game to put in that of the smoky lounges where she worked. their pockets because when it comes to making “I needed the money,” Persephone says, “and pretty money, it’s all about the tips. But, like any this is the only job you can do to make money articulate, industry revolving around sex appeal, all of the that quickly under the table without having to money earned by dancers is wrung through a claim it.” but when long line of percent-taking fingers. Her financial situation at home also being “If a bouncer recommends a customer to somewhat of a hindrance, Persephone knew people hear you, you have to tip him,” Persephone says. “If she couldn’t approach her parents or relatives that I’m a someone helps you with your hair or makeup, for money—they didn’t have it. She was on you have to tip them. If a girl recommends to her own, she was desperate and, above all, she dancer, they to buy a dance off of you, you have to wanted an education. automatically atipguy them.” “My mom was a homemaker, and she wasn’t Tips make the world go ‘round in the club. happy when she was married,” Persephone assume Dancers pay the establishment, tip their fellow explains. “You gotta have training to go out and that I’m a performers (and protectors) and pocket the be independent.” rest. It’s clear that the $2,000 ad in the paper Her motivation served her well, and she whore.” is just a tiny bit skewed. You’ve got to be a wasn’t afraid to do what she saw as necessary. Persephone brilliant tactician and negotiator to make that She needed money; she had her body. It may seem a crude formula, but to a woman who is Dancer amount your first week on the job, in addition to being a lithe dancer. In truth, dancers make proud of what she has, her body can be used as spare change their first week. But with a little quite an effective tool. “In the beginning, I broadcast it and was shouting to practice and knowledge of the system, $2,000 doesn’t seem the skies, ‘I’m a professional exotic dancer, I’m hot, I’m so impossible after all. These girls don’t just have to face opposition among their awesome, I’m athletic, I’m good at what I do,’” Persephone recalls. “But when you’re in college, that’s not something peers—dancing isn’t an easy way to get cash. Persephone and Caroline are the first to admit that, sometimes, being you want to broadcast.” Persephone brings up the stigma that those in her an exotic dancer isn’t a waltz. Luckily, both women have the profession face. Exotic dancing is an industry that’s ripe for rare commodity of relatively supportive families. But at the criticism. And Persephone has received a great deal of it, clubs, the customers are often drunk, rude and assuming.

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Color is not an indicator for the taste or ripeness in cranberries.

backdropmag.com | 2010 | winter

features

anything, and so there are the girls who go And the other dancers can be just as bad. “I had customers who would get drunk and into work and they do prostitute themselves call me ugly,” Persephone remembers, “or girls out. You have that at any place.” Persephone and Caroline will be the first to that would call me fat.” “It makes the job tough some nights,” admit that the odd looks or reprimands they Caroline says, “but going home with a nice may receive are a result of the women who make a lifelong career out of dancing. The amount of money is worth it—sometimes.” But at the same time, the experience isn’t trouble is, most people on the street won’t necessarily a bad one. There’s the money. And, stop and give any of the girls a second chance, regardless of whether or not education is the on a good night, it can be a damn good time. “I didn’t take everything off, and I didn’t do driving factor. “I don’t think I should be judged for it, ‘dirty’ things, if you will. It’s nothing that I was ever ashamed of, and it was fun,” Caroline especially because it’s not something I’m doing for the rest of my life,” Caroline says. She is now on hiatus from her says. “Even if there are people dancing days, perhaps for good if who did it for the rest of their she doesn’t find herself with much lives . . . it’s what they want to do. more credit card debt. A dancer leaves the club at night, “I didn’t take I don’t think I’m a bad person for it, and I don’t think I should be heads home, finally off to bed. everything judged for it, and I don’t think She’ll let her night-time persona there’s anything wrong with it slide off of her body as she dreams, off, and because it’s my own choice to do ready to meet the world in the I didn’t it.” morning as a student. But when Ultimately, that choice is she wakes, some of the habits do ‘dirty’ what brings strong women developed on stage still cling to a things, if to this profession. They don’t dancer’s body. necessarily want to do it—they’re Working at a club for long you will. It’s not hooked on drugs, they’re enough can start to manifest not boozing every night of the itself in the outside world. nothing that week—they need to do it to make Persephone and Caroline have I was ever ends meet. They need money for both experienced it. As with most grueling jobs, work and the rest ashamed of, an education. “I don’t want [young girls] to of one’s life start to blend after a and it was think that you just get on the while. stage and dance around, and “Your confidence goes up, fun.” people throw money on you,” and you find yourself going out Caroline Persephone warns. “It’s not like wearing less and less clothes during the day because you’re so Former Dancer that. You’re on stage for two songs and there are, like, 80 girls, and comfortable with your body,” the girls are running a rotation. Persephone says. Her tomboyish attitude and looks quickly began to transform, You’ll make a couple dollars here, a couple dollars there on days, but the main way you her jeans turning to short skirts. “You kind of feel power over men make money is by going up to people and sometimes,” Caroline says. “Just being up hustling dances and hustling drinks, and that there and having people paying attention to is not easy.” It’s all about the education for these women. you . . . it’s a good feeling, I guess.” Of course, this confidence is what attracts That’s what is important. “In the end, I would like to be a therapist,” attention, and it’s attention that ends up hurting these girls—even the ones who don’t Persephone says. “I feel like a lot of my teachers and professors in high school really go down the wrong path. “I want to say that probably 90 percent of kind of pushed me to go to college. I admired dancers do drugs or coke . . . or get completely them. And I would like to be that person in wasted at work, and then they lie to the patrons someone’s life.” and say that they’re in school and they’re not,” Persephone says. “It’s so easy to get caught up in the night life. And unfortunately, I’ve gotta say that some of the stereotypes are true with

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2.5 cans of Spam are consumed every second in the United States.

bobb He’s been on stage in nothing, playing saxophones and pots and pans. He’s bloodied onlookers. He’s a physics major; he’s a genius. Oh, and his beard is damn glorious.

hatt The Bearded Genius BY NIKLOS SALONTAY

PHOTOgraphy BY PETE LARSON

Fun fact goes here Fun fact goes here Fun fact goes

backdropmag.com | 2010 | winter backdropmag.com | 2010 | winter

features

he walls of Bobb Hatt’s house slightly jagged, and glare with eyes that’d of an image.” She insists that dating are lined with flyers from make anyone believe they were about to Bobb is never difficult and that, while the Mormon Church, hanging upside- be bitten. It can be said with confidence she occasionally feels unintelligent in his down and mingling on crowded walls that Bobb is a genuine eccentric. It presence, she adores how difficult he is with large maps, traffic signs and a black- radiates from his appearance, his speech to anger. The image she paints of Bobb light dolphin poster. A sign on the front and his scent—which follows him is one of a man surprisingly humble for door that Bobb found while interning everywhere except for his job at the his intellect. “If I get upset, he just knows how to at a particle accelerator in Virginia last Ohio University Music Library where, summer reads, “The Catholic University for ten hours a week, he masks his deal with it,” she says,wv “Usually when of America.” A drum set is assembled in natural odors with a white stick of Arm one person gets mad, the other gets the living room below band posters a and Hammer deodorant. “It doesn’t mad. He doesn’t do that.” Physics is the third major he’s pursued seem right to stink up a library,” he says. nd trinkets. The word “genius” has followed him since starting college. He first declared The drum set belongs to Bobb’s childhood friend Chris Lute, who for most of his life. It sneaks its way into meteorology, switching to audio also lives here. Chris has known Bobb nearly every description of the man. production shortly after. A year later, he since high school when Bobb first His reputation as an eccentric wiz-kid turned to physics. Since then his studies approached him, clinging to his leg in allows him to get away with stunts have become much more intensive. that might usually result in a branding He doesn’t regret his other majors, but the hall between classes. He saw Bobb through high school, his of insanity. When he’s not studying he believes that everything he would wildest years, when he came to school physics, he could be experimenting have learned in audio production can be figured out on his one May dressed as Hannibal Lector in a fake straitjacket The word “genius” has followed him for own time. He prefers lowwith stage blood dripping from most of his life. It sneaks its way into fidelity music to any kind of his lips, clinching a fork. He nearly every description of the man. His polished recording anyway. voted Bobb Hatt for senior reputation as an eccentric wiz-kid allows Bobb has taught himself play instruments from class president, was nearby him to get away with stunts that might to every major category. when he won, and watched as administrators stripped the usually result in a branding of insanity. He plays bass guitar and saxophone most often, but man of his title for wrestling with a friend in the halls. They’d told with noise music or feeding his recent also frequents more obscure instruments Bobb then, in spite of his 3.9 GPA, obsession with bicycles. He’s an anti- ranging like the coronet and that he wasn’t taking school seriously. corporate vegetarian, but if there’s the berimbau. In his solo performances, Bobb says he Chris was around when Bobb shaved one thing he seems incapable of, it’s likes starting on the saxophone, playing his eyebrows and replaced them with being smug. He’s really never been a run-of-the- in the crowd with a clean, natural sound electrical tape for no reason in particular. Now Chris is here as his old friend rides mill kid. By the second grade he was and slowly building distortion until the in 20 minutes late on a yellow mountain learning alone at school, separated tones becomes dissonant and slightly bike decorated with stripes of cheap from the other kids because he’d already unnerving. “When the brain hears dissonant things it releases chemicals mastered all the lessons. electrical tape to introduce himself. He pursues information actively and that make it happy,” he says. Bobb’s t-shirt and jeans are decorated Audience involvement has always been with paint and torn in places. His constantly, always learning. He reads beard’s a five-month-old tangle of books often and scours the Internet for an integral part of his performances. His red and brown hairs, and when he whatever interests him at the moment. old solo show, The Bobb Hatt Attack, speaks he looks at you with fixed “He does Wikipedia nonstop,” Megan, involved exactly what the name implies, sapphire eyes that refuse to turn away. his girlfriend of over a year, says, “it’s so an attacking Bobb Hatt. “It’s very… kind of like barbaric,” His vernacular is sprinkled with false interesting to him. He’s always thinking. starts and sharp pangs of momentary His mind’s very fast, thinking all Megan says. “He’s crouched over, just screaming. He doesn’t even know what’s silence that fall unpredictably into the time.” “Honestly, he’s not that crazy on a going on. He’s freaking out.” his dialogue. The Attack performances were Whenever he pleases, Bobb can look day-to-day basis, “ she says, “I mean, completely feral. He’ll display his teeth, he’s pretty goofy, but I think it’s more insane. He charges the crowd, tackles

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It costs about 3 cents to make a $1 bill in the United States.

people blindly, and once hospitalized a say his stint as an intern at the Thomas has always been such an abstract idea. It friend on accident last year. He’ll climb Jefferson National Accelerator Facility just seems so remote to what I’m doing things, make animal noises and strip last summer changed him dramatically. right now in life. It kind of solidifies completely naked. He plays mostly in It’s a place where government scientists like, ‘Oh yeah, I can do something like this eventually.’” basement venues, though he once got in fire electrons just below the speed of It’s clear to his observers that Bobb trouble at the Union for stripping down light around a racetrack-shaped tunnel in the crowd. The point of The Bobb 25 feet underground, smashing them Hatt is a man of incredible energy. Hatt Attack was to get in crowd’s face, into other particles just to watch what Perhaps his old antics were just outlets happens. It’s a massive, liquid-cooled, for that energy. Before Isaac Newton to force them to get involved. “If he was playing on a stage,” Megan superconducting microscope to look at had physics, it’s rumored that he stuck a needle into his eye socket says, “there wouldn’t be that element, which is like half of “Honestly, he’s not that crazy on a day- to learn what was behind the show.” to-day basis, “ she says, “I mean, he’s it. Now that Bobb Hatt has “It was more theater in pretty goofy, but I think it’s more of an physics, he’s settling down into a purpose. Just the my view than it was music,” image.” Megan, Bobb’s girlfriend. other day, Megan says, he says Will Klatt, an alumnus was talking about renewable who lived with Bobb last year in the somewhat notorious atoms. Surprisingly, he feels his life there energy and solar cell development, perhaps working for a nonprofit. was simpler than the one he leads now. “Beaver Ranch.” “He’ll still make loud noises and stuff “It’s definitely made coming back With the show gaining notoriety for it’s unique and confrontational vibe, the to school afterwards a little harder,” he like that, but he’s not as outrageous [as creator decided to end The Bobb Hat says, “It’s just that school seems more he used to be],” Megan says, “Obviously difficult than being there, because there he’s getting older, you know what Attack indefinitely. “I think he just got sick of everyone I was at work nine-to-five and then I was I mean?” knowing him for that,” Megan says, “I done… It was a lot less stressful overall… mean he did crazy stuff with that, and Anything like having a real job to me he just got to this point where —he couldn’t be any more crazy. I mean he had gone to the max level of disgustingly crazy, wild shows. I just think he was tired of trying to… you know… in every show you have to top yourself.” “I really felt that the cathartic effect of it was diminishing,” Bobb confides, “everyone who would see it… had seen me like half-a–dozen [or] a dozen times. And so it just lost its effect, and there’s really no more bounds I can push without incurring the wrath of the law.” It wasn’t until recently that Bobb had even the slightest idea what he’d do with his life. His friends

A one-third pound stalk of broccoli contains more vitamin C than 204 apples.

backdropmag.com | 2010 | winter

features

Pipe

Dreams

BY Elizabeth Sheffield

PHOTography by Tyler Sutherland

A glanc e a t m a r i j u a n a a c t i v i s m t hrough its homegrown hero.

“I

used to love the college green, because the college green was filled with 1,000 people every afternoon sitting in little circles getting high,” he said with a smile framed by a white, bristled Van Dyke. “They let that go on for years before they decided it was an embarrassment and had to stop.” Lounging back in his chair, arms crossed, Don Wirtshafter resembles an aged Jeffrey Lebowski, but white-haired and silvertongued. The 1973 Ohio University graduate, however, rarely abides. Wirtshafter has challenged the status quo since a postgraduate campaign against strip mining in Athens County— a cause that precipitated his law degree from Case Western Reserve. Since law school, Wirtshafter has kept his grassroots in Athens, while stemming his activisms across the country. Regarded as the father of the industrial hemp movement and a self-proclaimed old hippie, Wirtshafter fuels a momentum toward the legalization of medicinal marijuana and hemp— a momentum lagging in Ohio. Now, with essentially defederalized marijuana laws and California’s pending decision on legalization, Wirtshafter feels the 2010s could be a pivotal decade.

Twenty years ago, Wirtshafter began selling hemp products out of his former law office loft on Court Street. He soon ran out of space, and opened The Ohio Hempery in Guysville, Ohio. The growing of hemp was and is illegal in the United States due to its resemblance of marijuana. So, Wirtshafter imported textiles, hemp seeds and other products until the government blocked his access to seeds in 1998. Wirtshafter then moved his enterprise to Canada, where it continues to prosper and legally grow its own hemp. Ironically, less than 200 years before the opening of his store, Wirtshafter could have paid rent for university owned property with merchantable hemp, the first cash-crop of Athens County. Today, the only hemp you’ll find in Athens is in the form of imported textiles. As for hemp’s psychoactive sister, The Athens County Sheriff’s Department (ACSD) recovered around 2,250 plants in 2009 via fly-overs with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI). Detective for the Athens County Sheriff’s Office Jerry Hallowell said that in addition to fly-overs, ACSD also eradicate

Before 1928, yo-yos used to be called bandalores in the United States.

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marijuana by targeting traffickers and ing to a March 2009 New York Times and is now available in Canada, accordarticle.. This advent gives states the ability ing to G.W. Pharmaceuticals. Wirtshafter indoor growers. On a smaller scale, OUPD reported 159 to manage marijuana legislation as they see hopes the medicine will reach approval in marijuana related offenses for the 2008-09 fit. Fourteen states already have decrimi- Europe within the coming months, and academic year, a 58 percent decrease since nalized marijuana at some level—Ohio is the US in upcoming years. In the meantime, Wirtshafter trudges 2004-05. Associate Director of Campus not one of them. However, the Buckeye’s forward with a handful of pro-marijuana Involvement Center for Health Promotion rival state is. According to Michigan government’s projects. He sits on the board of drugTerry Koons said the number of students who reported using marijuana at least Web site, medicinal marijuana has been sense.org, “the backbone of the drug polionce every 30 days has hovered around 30 legal statewide since December 4, 2008. cy reform movement” that offers a variety percent or roughly 5,200 students since The Michigan Medical Marihuana Pro- of services including media work for drug 2004. However, reported alcohol inci- gram (MMMP), launched a month ear- reform agencies around the world. In andents exceeded those of marijuana by at lier, has registered over 7, 800 patients and other effort to heighten public awareness, received over 14,500 job applications to Wirtshafter has began writing a book, proleast 300 percent for the past three years. filing a drug-war prisoner sentenced to life Hallowell agrees that alcohol is a greater date. “[Medicinal marijuana] seems to be a in prison for a first time offense. He hopes gateway drug than marijuana. He attributes this to the accessibility and varied pretty smooth implementation up there,” his book will attract enough attention to effects of alcohol. Regardless of which is Wirtshafter says “…hopefully, people reverse the sentence. Between writing sesthe lesser of two evils, Wirtshafter sees the from Ohio will see this and come around sions, Wirtshafter lectures across the states, most recently in Michigan and Las Vegas. legalization and regulation of marijuana in their opinions.” As for the battle on his as the viable answer to its ashome front in Guysville, cribed gateway qualities. I f w e h a d b een smart 30 Wirtshafter sees prospects “If we had been smart 30 years ago… and legalized y e a r s a g o … and legal - in people like Kenny Yuko, a State Representative with marijuana, I don’t think we i z e d m a r i j u a n a , I don’t think we MS, who is working on legwould have half the prob“to make marijuana lems with harder drugs that w o u l d h a v e h a l f the problems islation legal for medical purposes we’re having today,” he says. Due to prevalent opiate w i t h h a r d e r d r u gs that we’re only.” In the event of legalizaabuse in Athens County, h a v i n g t o d a y. ” tion, Hallowell hopes the marijuana has taken a lower priority in narcotic investiDon Wirshafter state government will place heavy restrictions on the gations. Wirtshafter admires Wirtshafter worries Ohio will be one of substance— much like alcohol— to the aggressive approach ACSD adopted under the leadership of Sheriff Patrick the last states to adopt such laws, due to help the adults and adolescences make Kelly, but would like to see the implemen- the media’s lack of national coverage on good decisions. Wirtshafter, too, believes in regulation tation of a lowest law priority enforcement the issue. “How much things have changed in the and that young adults are not only imstatute— an initiative that makes the possession of marijuana (in small quantities) entire western United States is not appar- portant in the decision making, but also a about as deplorable as jaywalking. These ent to someone reading media in Ohio,” driving force in new legislation. “The student population is key to makinitiatives, which have been enacted in var- Wirtshafter says. Despite poor media attention, 81 per- ing these changes,” he says. “[They] will ious US cities, aim not only to decriminalize marijuana, but also to redirect tax pay- cent of US citizens agree that marijuana have to push forward the momentum ers’ money to more pertinent issues like should be available for medicinal pur- needed to get these politicians off their violent crimes and underfunded schools. poses, a percentage that Wirtshafter says butts and working toward solutions for However, Hallowell doesn’t foresee Ath- has risen from growing popularity with these problems.” Wirtshafter is optimistic about the fuens adopting this statute unless state the elderly. Wirtshafter not only propones the benefits of the drug, but has ture, but still wears the vestige of past law changes. “If it’s an illegal drug, we’re going after also helped G.W. Pharmaceuticals create shortcomings, just as he does an Ohio a cannabinoid blend called Sativex that is Hempery t-shirt, stretched thin over it,” Hallowell says. In Wirtshafter’s ideal, marijuana will no naturally “formulated to allow the physical the years. “I spent most of my adulthood with a longer be an illegal substance in ten years. effects [of marijuana] without the psychestrong wind in my face,” Wirtshafter says, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said delic effects.” The drug will treat spasticity caused by “…and finally now it feels like a huge mothe Department of Justice will only prosecute unlicensed marijuana dealers who multiple sclerosis, cancer induced pain mentum on my back, a huge momentum claim to be medical dispensaries, accord- and “neuropathic pain of various origins,” pushing us forward.”

“

Emus cannot walk backwards.

backdropmag.com | 2010 | winter

features Appalachia is notorious for its poor job market, but the struggles of those who work dead-end jobs for low-end pay are rarely seen.

BROKE. Broke.

BY RYAN JOSEPH

Illustration by Alexander Helbach

he trailer park sits in a sparse, empty valley right before the US Route 33 exit. It infringes upon the Hocking River and is well hidden from the passing traffic on the highway above. Its location in an area fraught with largely unaddressed problems is fitting. A driveway slopes down into a nearly undetectable collection of dilapidatted mobile homes. Its presence is almost undetectable. The faded pastel exteriors blend into their surroundings. Cindy’s home sits in the back. Across the street two kids perch on cinderblocks, still as statues. The only sound is a mutt’s constant barking. “You can tell it’s a poor community,” Cindy explains. “There’s nothing really here for somebody who doesn’t have a college education,” Cindy is a freckled 20-year-old mother who lives with her boyfriend and 1-year-old son. Her smiles are rare, they seem painful on her austere expression. “The hardest part about the wages that I earn now is that I cannot give my son everything that I never had,” She says. “When I buy him clothes I go to WalMart. I always thought I’d be able to get him namebrand stuff. I always thought that he’d have toys— anything that he wanted.” Cindy is a member of Athens County’s working poor population, a group of people who we see on any given day. Steve Scanlan, Ohio University Professor of Sociology, describes the working poor as those who do the work that is often unrecognized,

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maybe sweeping our floors or flipping burgers. But it’s never enough. Cindy’s situation isn’t out of the ordinary. According to U.S. Census data from 2006-2008 estimates, 17 percent of Athens County families are below the poverty level, compared to 9.6 percent nationwide, and the median household income was around $32,000, compared to a $52,000 U.S. average. “What’s unique about the working poor is that we say in this country, ‘work hard, pay your dues and you’ll be fine.’ There are people who do just that, but are still not getting by,” Scanlan says. The opportunities that rarely come—or never come at all—for some Athens County residents coalesce into an environment frothing with service industry jobs, few educational opportunities and an almost guaranteed destitution. The Athens County Job and Family Services (ACJFS), however, is an oasis in Appalachia’s desert of poverty. Social worker Nick Claussen explains that ACJFS’s mission within the Athens County community is to provide a myriad of services. For example, cash and food assistance, Medicaid, job training programs, a child enforcement agency, a home-health service for seniors and work programs for teens and young adults to help them get into school. Claussen is more than enthusiastic about the ACJFS—he’s downright passionate. Even he, however, realizes the grim reality of the Athens job

The sperm count of an average American male compared to thirty years ago is down thirty percent.

market. “We have a big service economy with the highest percentage of serviceindustry jobs in the state and the lowest percentage of manufacturing jobs in the state,” Claussen says. “We’re happy to have these jobs, but there definitely needs to be other jobs as well. There needs to be jobs with higher pay. When the coal mines closed long ago and nothing came into the region to replace them, it caused a lot of problems.” According to Scanlan, when Athens County’s coal mines shut down a downward spiral ensued. “The diner that the workers used to stop at for coffee on their way to the mine shuts down, the gas station they fill up at loses business and the tax revenues the schools receive are lost,” Scanlan says. Both Claussen and Scanlan agree that, in addition to the county’s obscenely high number of service-industry jobs and lack of industry and education, Athens County’s relative isolation also hinders residents. Essential services and stores that many suburbanites take for granted are only sparsely dotted around the county. Long commutes and high gas prices drain peoples’ already shallow pockets. Some residents have to commute daily to Columbus, Chillicothe or Parkersburg, just for work. Office cubicles protrude from the carpeted floor of the ACJFS workstation, raising up like corn. The ACJFS is a golden ticket to some. Athens resident and single mom Deana Gordon is there every day. “Then I go back to being a mom and putting food in my daughter’s belly,” she says. Gordon relocated to Athens from Columbus four months ago. Her life has not been easy: growing up on the west side of Columbus, she lost her mother at 14. Her father, a heavy drug user, was rarely present. She moved to Athens after placing a restraining order on her abusive former boyfriend.

“

ACJFS helps Gordon with food, health and money problems, but her situation with ACJFS requires that she attend classes every day of the week in order to receive her GED. If she doesn’t, she loses everything. Although her situation with ACJFS may sound like a typical welfare story, Gordon is quick to point out the glaring misconceptions of welfare mothers. “I was lucky to get it. When I’m done with my GED, I have to get a job, and they still take from you. They never let you get ahead,” Gordon says. “And people who have jobs are always like, ‘We take care of the welfare people,’” Gordon says. “No, you don’t. You really don’t. Just because you have a good job and you pay your taxes doesn’t mean that you’re taking care of us. “ But ACJFS doesn’t just help young single mothers. Others—those who are middle-aged and Deanna Gordon have families—have Single mom also had to seek assistance from the organization. Crystal Vance, a native of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, moved with her husband and 16-year-old to Athens in order to be near family. It was a move she quickly learned was a mistake. “If you’re lucky—if I were lucky—you’ve got fast food [jobs], but I got into a car accident and ended up having to be out of work for awhile,” Vance says. A family emergency lost her next job, leading to a cycle of unemployment not uncommon in Appalachia. Looking to work her way up the business ladder, Vance is searching for secretary opportunities. Those opportunities, however, are few and far between in Appalachian Ohio. “There’s McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, convenience stores—maybe—a lot of mom and pop’s. There isn’t a lot of big business,” Vance says. Welfare programs across the nation have been disappearing quickly since

People who have jobs are always like, ‘We take care of the welfare people.’ No, you don’t.”

Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

the 1960s, but it wasn’t until former President Bill Clinton’s proclamation to “end welfare as we know it” with 1996’s Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). PRWORA effectively ended welfare as an entitlement and singled out out-of-wedlock births and intergenerational poverty as the causes of a faulty welfare system. Both Scanlan and Claussen emphasize the need for greater funding and benefits to help Athens County working poor residents. “There are a lot of programs to help the working poor in Athens County,” Claussen says. “[But] our own programs got funding cuts. They are facing harder times now than in years past. And it’s a terrible time now because demand is going up everywhere. The state budget is a mess. They need to bring in more funding.” PRWORA mandates that the states are allowed to develop their own welfare systems and stipulates that a person can only receive 5-years worth of welfare over his/her lifetime—no matter the person’s opportunity deprivation. Some have questioned whether a smaller welfare system is really the cause of poverty. Some, like Scanlan, point to a minimum wage that fails to keep up with yearly inflation and a lack of benefits. “Now it’s expected that your child go to college; health care expenses are now more than ever; education costs have increased more than inflation; same with housing costs. Wages just haven’t kept up,” Scanlan says. “[But] It isn’t as much a wage increase as much as it is making sure that people have … health insurance, rent subsidy and food assistance. Things like that would relieve a lot of the stress on individuals doing this kind of work.” The sun shone through the blinds in Cindy’s trailer that late-December afternoon, the light settling peacefully on her precociously worn face. ”Do you think Appalachian poverty differs from poverty elsewhere? Can it be fixed?” I ask. “I don’t think it’s any different,” Cindy says. “Everywhere it’s the same thing— whether you’re in a big city or a small town. I thought about moving out of Athens because I don’t see change coming any time soon.”

backdropmag.com | 2010 | winter

sex and health

The New Birthing Equation

Athensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; own Silvermoon Midwifery is leading the way in the return of homegrown births

BY Adam Wagner, Illustration By Stephanie Linson

Appalachian midwifery carries with it a certain stereoelphine Silvermoon lives over the river and through the woods, if the grove of trees that you type, which Silvermoon describes as “the ignorant backpass through and the small stream that you need woods granny midwife with dirt under her fingernails.” It is clear as she talks that this association irks her. to drive over the dingy footbridge to cross can be grantShe had all three of her children – Arwen ,Elisar and ed a pair of grandiose titles. There isn’t any formal driveway—there’s a dirt road, Lorien, all named for Lord of the Rings characters – at but no asphalt. Tire marks mar the snow-sprinkled grass home. She says, “It’s that kind of a negative image that off to the right where Silvermoon’s clients turn their cars really circulated in the last half of the 1900s. It was rearound when they leave the tiny house, where she hosts ally tough to overcome, and it took until the last part of the last century (for midwifery to become a respected most of her appointments. A small sign dangles from a short stake outside the practice again).” Silvermoon, like many modern midwives, is quite house. It says SILVERMOON MIDWIFERY in flowing script, and the sidewalk to the house is patrolled by educated. She has a 4-year bachelor’s degree in nursing, in addition to a certificate in midwifery from the Frona yappy ankle-biter. tier School of Nursing and MidSilvermoon herself stands at wifery in Hyden, Kentucky, the the door with a bright smile, second oldest midwifery school quick to assure that her dog is, in in the nation. By earning a set of fact, safe, and no—even though dual degrees, Silvermoon gained it’s now wrestling viciously with the right to legally practice her a cat—it won’t bite. She is one profession in all 50 states, while of those grandmotherly women “Our society sees birth “apprentice midwives,” or those who somehow manage to retain without a degree in nursing, are youth through the years, her as an emergency. It’s a only legal in 24 of the 50 states. blondish gray hair pulled back different way of thinking Due to this stipulation, many loosely, a few strands scratching than a lot of the rest of think of midwifery as being in at her face like hay. some great conflict with the The inside of her house is the world. There’s a lot modern medical establishment. pleasantly sterile, the gray carpet of fear surrounding child- And while there can be conflict offset by two high-backed chairs between the two sides – Silverand a couch. The perimeter birth in our society.” moon described an incident is lined with three bookcases, Florida where a woman was two of which are pregnant with Delphine Silvermoon in birthing and hemorrhaging books about childbirth, the third Midwife while a surgeon and a midwith memories and home remwife were engaging in a power edies. struggle in the next room – each You can see into the next room, where a desk piled high with papers is the only clue that serves their own purpose in helping to bring a new huthis is, at its core, a place of business. The willowy sound man being into the world. “Hospitals and obstetricians are very, very necessary of a flute floats in from the computer’s speakers, and a travel bag, which Silvermoon calls her “midwife bag,” is as part of the system, and the more we can work collying next to the doorframe. A pile of items sits on what laboratively together, the better it is for the commulooks to be a saddle in the corner by the fireplace, tools nity,” Silvermoon says “Everybody chooses to give birth wherever they feel safest, and for some people, that’s as of the medical trade that is practiced here. Silvermoon, who moved to Athens in October after far from a hospital as they can get, and for others it’s practicing in Charleston, West Virginia, is relaxed in with as much technology around them as possible, and this room, maybe because she is used to being the ul- everything in between. Everybody should get to have timate authority here. Her daughter, Lorien Tanney is the choice that they want.” A major part of that choice is the degree of care training to be a midwife and describes her mother as “inspiring … very centered, very confident” when she that the women want, as Silvermoon only has two or is working. That focus is clear as Silvermoon sits down, three clients – she refuses to call them patients because clearing away whatever other issues she may have to “they’re not really sick” – due in any given month, because she is partially retired and she prefers to be able to stare solely at the present. spend at least an hour with each woman at each visit. The schedule that Silvermoon offers is similar to that ————

Infants spend more time dreaming than adults do.

backdropmag.com | 2010 | winter

sex and health of an obstetrician, with visits once a month during the first 28 weeks of the pregnancy, twice a month in the last 12 weeks of the pregnancy and then weekly in the last month of the pregnancy. The prime difference, though, is that the woman is able to stay in the familiar setting of her home, surrounded by her family. Tanney, who had one child at home and one in a hospital, says that pregnant women have an enhanced sense of smell, which causes them to mildly panic when they are brought to the hospital. At home, meanwhile, they are comforted by the natural smell of their own residence. “When I was at home, it was a sense of rightness,” says Tanney, who went on to compare birthing to finding one’s way when driving. “Have you ever taken the wrong road and you get the feeling that you know what you did immediately (that’s the hospital experience), and then other times you have no idea where you’re going, but you’re sure it’s the right way? (That’s the midwife experience).” One major advantage to homebirth is the husband’s increased involvement in the process. He is taught how to use a Doppler monitor to check his unborn child’s heartbeat as soon as possible, and is in charge of that at subsequent visits, giving him an increased sense of responsibility. “Just going through that process together, the intimacy and the privacy of a home birth without being interrupted by the schedules of the hospital staff … being in a home, you don’t get those kind of interruptions where everyone else’s agendas are coming in on your experience,” said Silvermoon. “There’s a human being coming onto the planet. That’s a sacred event. And when it’s treated as a sacred event, it brings couples closer together. … I think it builds stronger families.” ———— There has been a spike in home births in recent years, as the Cesarean section rate in America has skyrocketed. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 1.4 million babies were delivered by Csection in 2007, a rate of 31.4 percent. The World Health Organization recommends that the rate remain somewhere between five and 10 percent, in order to protect the health of both mothers and children. According to

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Silvermoon, a major part of the issue is societal. “Our society sees birth as an emergency. It sees birth as the most dangerous thing a woman can do, the most painful thing a woman can do,” Silvermoon said. “Everything you see on TV is about just that, panicking and fear. ‘Oh, the baby’s coming! Oh my God!’ It’s a different way of thinking than a lot of the rest of the world. There’s a lot of fear surrounding childbirth in our society.” Tanney attempted to describe why that fear occurs, saying, “I think we’re very dramatic. Generally in our lives, when it comes to anything that’s life-changing, we tend to fear change. And birth is change. It’s great change. … When you’re dealing with great change, initially you’re dealing with a lot of emotion.” Silvermoon clearly believes that fear has no place in a process that has been totally natural for much of humanity’s history, and part of the way she helps calm her clients is by developing close relationships with them. As a result, many of them are not only repeat customers, but also remain friends with her. Silvermoon called a former client to ask whether she’d be willing to discuss her experience, opening the phone call with a nonchalant, “Hey, are you at work?” then discussing head colds and the safest remedies to use during pregnancy before ending the phone call with a casual “Okay, love you, too, man. Bye.” ———— When asked what her favorite part of being a midwife is, Silvermoon doesn’t say building relationships. Instead, she takes a few seconds to respond, contemplating whether she has an answer for the question. When she does speak, it’s softly, in an almost reverent tone, to say, “Gosh, I love it. Just all of it. It’s a privilege, it’s an honor to be able to help people in this time. … The biggest thing is being part of the community [of home birth] and building that community.” Building that community by training non-nurse midwives, who can now earn a Certificate of Professional Midwifery (CPM) FACTCHECK, is part of the reason that Silvermoon chose to come to Athens. The other part is to “build bridges between the medical community and the home birth community,” in order to further legitimize the profession that she clearly is so passionate for. This bridge will take some time to build, but it may be an easy fit, particularly in this community, where the organic seems to fall from the trees in the fall and rise from the ground in the spring. It may even be as seamless of a fit as the bridge that goes over the stream and runs through the grove to the little house where this modern woman works to erase whatever stereotypes she can—all while connecting people the best way she knows how: delivering babies. The youngest pope was 11 years old.

BA GEL STREET DELI 27 S. Court Street • phone:740-593-3838 open Mon-Fri 8-9, Sat-Sun 10-9

world, ng the i g n a i ch h “c agelw o ne b ime!” at a t

sex and health

There’s something about hairy Women sound off on how they really feel about chest hair

By Susannah Sachdeva, PhotoGRAPHY by Pete Larson

hest hair is like mayonnaise. My natural tendency is to be disgusted by its appearance—yet, at its core, it’s not wholly unnatural. This is similar to how females seem to be inherently repulsed by chest hair, even though it is, genetically speaking, normal. Even though chest hair is undeniably masculine—and a quality commonly seen as an indicator of being, well, potent— society has told us that the model-bodied male with a clean, shaven chest is always supposed to be the most attractive specimen of the pack. Yet, through this limited case study, I have found that while women may act repulsed by a hairvested man, the truth can be quite the opposite. In true scholarly manner, I have divvied up the men avec chest hair into seven different levels from Chestiman 1, who sports a clean-shaven chest, to Chestiman 7, who has the hairiest chest we could

find. As I noted earlier, this case study has proven (by surveying 53 random women) that females will most often respond positively to the shaven chest when asked in public because it might be “embarrassing” to choose otherwise. No one wants to admit they are into a sasquatch-kind-of-chest hair when it is more socially acceptable to choose the shaven dude with a six-pack. But I managed to break through that barrier by doing one-on-one interviews with a number of women, each with a different relationship status. Although the women were still “embarrassed” to discuss such a topic, they supplied me with some hairraising answers. The categories of the interviewed women are as such: Case 1: The Single Lady Case 2: The Prowler Case 3: It’s Complicated Case 4: The Girlfriend Case 5: The Fiancée

The Single Lady is not swayed by the chest hair of her current beau. No, she is bold and up front about her likes and dislikes when it comes to the chesticles. One such lady even feels a semblance of understanding for the man’s plight of the chest hair. Courtney King states, “It’s really tough being a hairy person in this pro-shaving, pro-smoothness world.” Although she and her fellow Single Lady, Molly O’Brien, are both keen to the nary hairy man, both women allow chest hair in moderation on their man of the moment. “I’m a hairy girl myself,” Courtney says. “It happens… but if I can’t see your skin, there’s a problem.” Molly’s stance concurs with Courtney’s in that she also repudiates the “hairy beasts” instead opting for a “tamed, thin coat” of chest hair. “I don’t want a wooly mammoth,” Molly says. While The Single Lady tends to go for the less-tousled look, The Prowler prefers a

levels of hairiness

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The pound key on the keyboard is called an octothorpe.

clean slate. “I prefer men have little to no chest hair,” Sarah Minter says. “Although, I would like them to be able to grow chest hair.” If her man’s got a bit of chest hair he wouldn’t have to have a waxing—not unless it’s curly. “I feel that if I have to shave they should also have to shave.” Sarah rationalizes. When dealing with chest hair, a girl must think of the situations she and her male’s chest hair can get into. Sarah imagined grabbing a man’s chest only to leave with a fistful of it in her hand – an unacceptable and “really awkward” experience, thinks The Prowler. Lindsay Hahn, of the “It’s Complicated” category, says, “When I lay my head down, I don’t want there to be a lot of it in my face.” The average woman usually spends a decent amount of faceto-face time with her dude’s chest so this scenario is one to put some thought into. Lindsay’s man has a little more chest hair than she would prefer (similar to Chestiman 5), but she would never ask him to shave. The stubble factor is a state that few women can handle with grace. “Girlfriend” Allison Nakonek, agrees, “Chest hair stubble just freaks me out.” She prefers a not-so-thick coat of chest hair with a happy trail to finish. Although her boyfriend has only a few lone soldiers on his torso, Allison is pleased with what-

ever God gave him. “I think it’s good as long as it’s natural,” she says. On the other side of the spectrum, Allison’s fellow “Girlfriend” Becca Adams has a guy who bares a chest more comparable to Chestiman 7. Luckily for him, chest hair is not something she chooses her man over. “I’m neither for nor against chest hair,” Becca says. “It’s just kind of there.” While the Girlfriends’ feelings on chest hair don’t always mimic the bods of their men, the Fiancée is more easily swooned by her knight’s armor. Newly-engaged Kate Shicks prefers a fine chest hair between the pectorals. “It’s no good when it gets down in the stomach area,” Kate says. “Keep it above the belly button, right around the nips.” A description that is surprisingly similar to the torso of her fiancé. What does all this mean for the single men of the world? To shave or not to shave? Ladies obviously feel obligated to prefer a clean-shaven chest, as was apparent in my survey. Yet most women will make do with whatever their significant others are packing—something true not only in the hair region, if you get my drift. And thank goodness for that, because, of the Chestimen pictured here, all were quite fond of their chest hair and weren’t keen on removing it anytime in the near future.

“In my past, girls have rubbed it and said ‘Oh my God it’s so soft!’ It keeps me warm. It radiates heat.” –Blase Pinkert

“My friends make fun of me and call me a sasquatch. My family makes fun of me because I’m the only person in my family with chest hair… maybe I’m the mailman’s kid. But the ladies love it.” –Mike Bader

“You should see some of my cousins. My cousins are pretty manly. You should have them here. It’d blow your mind… We’re all Jews.” –Josh Landis

“I shaved my chest once and all my friends cried and wept for about a week. They all think it looks like a falcon.” –Brian Lachman

“My chest hair is just something I’ve grown to accept. You know when you’re little you want the cool facial hair or the cool chest hair? I look down and I’ve got a diamond on my chest. And I’m like, ‘Well, whatever.’” –Craig Reck

In Belgium, there is a museum just for strawberries.

exhibit

Showcasing the university’s creative minds...

Leaf Study iii By Lauren Dupps

I love using a shallow depth-offield because of the subtle value changes it allows me that make the familiar seem abstract and the unnoticed beautiful.

Untitled By emily mullin There are days when I feel like I can’t breathe, days when I drown in the beauty of everything a round me. My chest gets heavy and my lungs block out the air and I marvel in it all – the brilliance of the morning light through the blinds, the sound of a gentle wind grazing the window, the smell of crisp leaves and the slow, steady decay of summer. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by it – the consciousness of being. Sometimes it is too much. Sometimes I feel too much.

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Abstract 7 By Amanda Gil This was a process piece, part of a series of 12 other abstract paintings. Conceptually, this piece represents a way of dealing with memory and past familial relationships.

Crayola is a French word that means “Oily chalk.”

J E N K ESSLE R, JOU R NALIST

WOMEN THAT WORK IT An armadillo can walk under water.

FROM THE CANVAS TO THE STAGE, THESE WOMEN LEAD THE WAY. THIS SERIES PROVIDES AN INTIMATE LOOK AT INNOVATORS IN THEIR PERSONAL SPACES.

PHOTOgraphy BY ERICA MCKEEHEN

backdropmag.com | 2010 | winter

HER ASPIRATIONS ARE LIMITLESS AND HER FACE UNMISTAKEABLE. DURING HER TIME AT OU, LISA HAS STARRED IN COUNTLESS PLAYS AND STUDENT FILMS. SHE’S VENTURED TO BOTH NYC AND LA. DON’T BE SUPRISED IF HER NAME IS UP IN LIGHTS SOMETIME SOON.

LISA SU M M E RSCALES, ACTR ESS (right) E M I LY M U LLI N, JOU R NALIST (below)

B ROOKE SHAN ESY, PHOTOG RAPHE R (above) CAR R I E R U MANCI K, PAI NTE R (left) AB BY ROE M E R, I NTE R IOR ARCH ITECT (lower middle)

ruthless rant and rage

FOR

PETE’

SAKE BY PETE LARSON

ILLUSTRATION BY KAITLIN ORR eter Larson is Backdrop’s photo editor, and is largely revered and reviled among the staff for his particular taste in design and his ability to tell you about it all of the time without feeling the least bit remorseful. Because he enjoys being a curmudgeon, and because we can, we gave Pete this spot—normally reserved for the Ruthless Rant & Rave column—to speak his mind. Here are a few things Pete had a problem with recently.

Chipotle’s Entrance Even though I am a seasoned chicken bowl veteran, I have yet to figure out why the right entrance door at Chipotle never opens. At least the embarrassment that comes with each visit makes the six bucks feel justified, but enough already: unlock the damn door. Fake Photo Tag Notifications Psych! But here is an app that you might be interested in. Buffalo Wild Wings I am all about spicin’ it up. But, I’m not sure if bright-ass neon lights are the answer. BW3’s recent exterior makeover is fit for Vegas—not Athens. 4,5,6 Fest As much as I like seeing mud-caked naked people pissing in wooded areas - the scenery isn’t enough. Please, for everyone’s sake, book a legit national band. The music blows. Not saying I won’t go, though.

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Gaming I’m better at video games than my roommates. Unfortunately, a strong ability in gaming is one of the few things in life that does not positively correlate with success, popularity, attractiveness, etc. Tostino’s Party Pizza Have you ever cheated on someone? I haven’t—but I can imagine the morning after committing an infidelity feels the same as the morning after eating one of these over-seasoned pieces of cardboard: Regret. Every time. LOST non-watchers I don’t understand why anyone would not want the remainder of the 2010 school year to be consumed by discussions about time travel, amazing men’s hair and Kate.

This font

Eating dandelions can make you urinate more.

Photo Story

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